Sun sets on abandoned fields in Mauritania and Ghana

Two sizeable well decommissioning campaigns are under way offshore Mauritania and Ghana.

Outside the mature oil and gas provinces of Nigeria, Gabon and Angola, these types of marine campaigns are something of a rarity in Africa, largely due to hydrocarbon sectors elsewhere developing relatively recently.

In Mauritania, Middle East-based contractor Petrofac has started well abandonment work on the Banda and Tiof discoveries operated by Tullow Oil whose oil and gas resources never saw the light of day, despite initial excitement.